It may be a dog to drive, but Massa on that dog qualified one place higher.

We’re talking about a driver who was sacked of the team in comparison to a two-times world champion, by many considered the best on the grid. You add the fact that this is supposed to be one of the races that suit him the best, and the conclusion is simple: he wasn’t good enough. And it’s not the first time.

Wont happen. If you watched FP, you’ll know RBs race pace is way too strong, plus, Rosber starts on the dirty side ofa grid, which at this circuit is a bigger disadvantage than normal. He will be lucky to be 3rd by turn one, never mind challaneging Vettel.

Lewis will be fine, he still will finish ahead this is the first qually in ages i count Nico beating Lewis on merit. Monza Hamilton wrecked floor. And really Ham deserved to win Silverston imo. Nico was nowere that weekend he coulnt even really keep Vet honest untill safety car came out. Hamilton has really stepped up, i was a worried man lol at Nico’s pace 3 poles in a row had me nervous for LH. But then after Monaco Hamilton has had the measure and got 4 poles in a row. All Rosbergs retirements would still not mean he would be anywere near Ham in the championship. Vettel mega lap the guy is a legend guys. My 2nd fav driver behind Hamilton, although i think its a bit of a shame that Vet will have 4xWC before Ham gets his 2nd. I dont think their is that much between them. And Alonso WOW!!!

Yeah, three wins to Lewis’ one sounds good on paper, but Lewis’ sole win was more impressive by far than the two that Rosberg’s racked up so far. In Monaco the difference between him and Lewis was almost negligible, but Rosberg was just ahead. That enabled him to go it slow for a vast portion of the processional “race” we saw and maintain his position. And Silverstone he only “won” after the two drivers in front of him (who both had had the firm measure of him up until that point) dropped away for differing mechanical reasons, one of which was Lewis, who would have won the race far more convincingly than Nico managed after inheriting it (which he still almost lost to Mark Webber). If he does win Singapore, it would be his first convincing winning performance this year, whereas Lewis has already turned in one of those, and more besides.

I am wondering what would happen if Ferrari found a problem with Massa’s car now and would have to change the gearbox…. Considering his current situation a the team, could Massa publicly question the decision, demanding proof?..

@kimrogue
True, Vettel has made it 13-0 so far but there are still 6 races and I won’t be surprised in the least if Webber finally manages to outqualify Vettel for the same reason why Massa managed to get ahead of Alonso a few times in 2010/2011, or why Petrov also did the same to Kubica. But I must say, Vettel’s either just that good and/or Webber is underperforming the car.

That’s my problem with Alonso this year. He’s not pushing the car as much as he could (and should!) in qualifying. It’s not the first time he’s been bested by Massa. Sure, he’ll make a superb race (probably will pass Massa on the start), but this is one place he shouldn’t need to recover.

On the other side, Vettel has been virtually flawless, pushing his car to the limit every weekend (surpassing Webber every single time).

One can argue Alonso had a better campaign that Vettel in 2012, but I don’t see that this year.

Whatever quality the Ferrari has, Alonso is not piushing it to its 100% on qualifying.
I remember Alonso outqualified Massa by half a second and even more. I don’t believe that you believe that Alonso is so terrible qualifier:-) So I don’t think its correct. But, yeah, Alonso should have worked better here.
And, of course, it doesn’t matter how good is your car if you’re always second. It only means that you’re first to lose (and you always lose). And that actually kills Alonso’s performance.

But again, that’s not the point. Grip or not, Massa bested him. Alonso is the two-times champion. He’s the one fighting this championship. He’s the Ferrari pilot next year. He should be pushing the car to its limits on qualifying. But he’s not.

What kind of reply is that? The topic was Alonso vs Massa on qualifying (to define the state of the car and who’s pushing to its limit). If you don’t want to talk about it anymore, simply stop replying.

The guy that’s been dominating the whole weekend sets a time which he thinks is good enough for pole. While 8 drivers give it a go again, the dominating man watches from the pitlane. Suddenly, it’s a massive shootout to see who can get the better of him and throw an enormous surprise. It’s game on, babe. It’s game on.

We, the spectators, rub our hands and watch carefully to this last do-or-die minute of qualifying at a very difficult track.

But no. TV Director thinks otherwise. And shows the WHOOOOLE lap of Massa. Who only qualifies 6th. We get to see Rosberg, just behind him, for 3 seconds and he goes 2nd just 0.091 seconds behind.

Being a TV director must be a difficult thing. But they had shown Massa at every part of the qualy and it was OBVIOUS he wasn’t going to go for pole ! He was struggling badly ! So why the …. did they not show ANYONE ELSE?!?!?!?!?!?!

I hope you lose your job, TV director. You’ve been letting me down for years now. But the SINGLE moment things could get exciting, you … it up !

@fer-no65 I agree, it was awful. Not only they kept showing Massa’s lap, they wasted quite some time filming his in-lap too! I think they kept filming him until he was navigating turn 2, while everyone was coming behind him setting quick laps. We barely saw any of Rosberg’s lap, we didn’t see why Alonso was slower than Massa, and we didn’t see any of Romain’s lap too (or maybe I was too distracted because I believe they were showing Vettel celebrating when Romain finished his lap).

It is always the case that the first guy to start their last lap gets full coverage of their lap, then they do the pit straight shot to pick up every one else crossing the line. It pathetic that FOM doesn’t have the smarts to pick up the truly exciting battles or even monitor the sector times to see who is quick and who is not.